Mamata Banejee meets Manmohan Singh; says NCTC worse than POTA, TADA

Banerjee, who forced Trivedi to quit as the Railway Minister after he proposed hike in the passenger fares in the Railway budget, indicated that there will be some roll back if there is a Railway Minister of the Trinamool Congress.

Dubbing the NCTC as worse than POTA and TADA, Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convey her reservations over the counter terrorism provision.

"The meeting was good," Banerjee said when asked by reporters after the discussions with the Prime Minister for the first time after the Dinesh Trivedi issue broke out.

"There is no breaking news," she remarked when asked whether there was any breakup or breakdown of the Trinamool Congress with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Banerjee also defended her party's walk out in the Lok Sabha on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) saying since the Trinamool Congress was part of the Government it can not vote against and therefore it has maintained decorum by walking out. "The NCTC is worse than TADA and POTA," she said.

Her meeting with Prime Minister appeared to have the desired result. Mukul Roy, whom the Trinamool Congress has named as Cabinet Minister to succeed Dinesh Trivedi as Railway Minister, will be sworn-in on Tuesday.

Banerjee, who forced Trivedi to quit as the Railway Minister after he proposed hike in the passenger fares in the Railway budget, indicated that there will be some roll back if there is a Railway Minister of the Trinamool Congress.

"If our nominee will become Railway Minister then we will modify the fares. There is no problem in the hike in upper class fares. We have no objection...it is tolerable. But for those who are poor, who travel daily in trains or those who travel in sleeper classes, it matters," she said before going to attend the Trinamool Parliamentary party meeting here.

She further said "common people travel in sleeper classes. Whatever we do, the common people should not suffer. This is our policy."

Banerjee said she has no plans to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi who is also UPA Chairperson as "she is not well. I do not want to disturb her," Banerjee said.

Replying to a question, Banerjee whose party with 19 MPs is the second largest constituent of the UPA after Congress, said that "Federal Front is already there. We have ties with all the states."